Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Thank You Julie!

This is a good way to end the year--a photo of some of the sisters in the first Robert Newton Turpin family.

A big thanks to Julie Gerren, another Turpin researcher, who remembered she had an old photo of these ladies. This picture is probably taken between 1926-1935.
Noted on the back -- left to right:  Emma Zetta, Sarah Jane, and Hannah Catherine

Emma Zetta (#7) 1858-1936 
Born in Greene County, Iowa.  She married John Abraham Groves.  

Sarah Jane (#3) 1848-1935
Born in Owen County, Indiana. She married Warfield Paul.

Hannah Catherine (#9) 1864-April 1939
Born in Greene County, Iowa.  She married Douglas Bell.

In trying to calculate when this photo was taken, it helps to know that sisters Margaret Golden (#2) died in 1926, Martha Ellen (#4) died as an infant, Louise Anne (#5) died in 1880, Mary Amanda (#6) in 1912.  Nancy Elizabeth (#8) lived until December 1939 but is not in the photo; perhaps too ill to get together with the rest of the sisters. 

Monday, December 26, 2011

Julia Turpin Jurges

Julia Turpin Jurges
Julia was another of the Iowa-born children in Robert Newton Turpin’s second family.  She was born 11 October 1875 in Grand Junction, Greene County, Iowa per her own handwritten notes.  Her obituary claims that the town of Jefferson is where Julia was born. 
Julia married a young German immigrant, Charles Jurges, on 15 March 1899 according to Rock County, Nebraska marriage records.  Charles was born 15 March 1876 in Hamburg, Germany, the son of Frederick H. Jurges and Johanna Wilhelmina Louisa Ilsemann according to German emigration records and his marriage record. Charles immigrated in 1892. He would have been about 17 years old. 

Monday, December 19, 2011

Mary Ellen Leonard Turpin's Father

Mary Ellen Leonard Turpin's father was Michael Leonard.

From Dennis Bell -- I've been checking Civil War records lately.  I wondered how Michael Leonard avoided being drafted. 

On March 3, 1863 the U.S. Government passed the Enrollment Act, the national conscription law.  The law called for drafts in July 1863 and in Mar., July, and Dec. 1864 on a state and county basis when there were insufficient volunteers.  The draft law applied to men aged 20 to 45; no married man could be drafted until all the unmarried had been taken.

On July 1, 1863 Michael Leonard registered for the draft, listing his residence in Cedar, Johnson, Iowa.  He said his age was 44.  He was actually 39, having been born June 8, 1824.

Follow-up on James R. Carter

In my Nov 12th blog post about the Iowa 10th Infantry and Thomas Benton Turpin, I mentioned James R. Carter who enlisted at the same time.  The Carters and the Turpins intermarried and I thought there might be a family connection: 

James R. Carter of Rippey enlisted as a Private on 23 August 1861 at the age of 18 in Company H, 10th Infantry Regiment Iowa on 7 Sep 1861.

James is the same age as Thomas.  Carter was probably Thomas’s grandmother’s maiden name. So looking to see if there is a connection could help me.  A bit of research shows there are no records of him in Greene County, Iowa in the 1860 census. I may want to scan the census in case the indexing is in error. I don’t see any James Carters in 1870 census that look like a potential match either. There is a 1890 Veteran’s Schedule which shows many James Carters. I guess this is a research project to put on my rainy day list.

Dennis Bell found the following entry for a James R. Carter in the 1860 census of Washington, Warren Co., Iowa.  Dennis suggested:

... he might be the James R. Carter (b. ABT 1843 in Indiana) who lived in Warren Co. IA in 1860?  See the below.  It appears to me that Charlotte (b. ABT 1820 in Indiana) is his mother, and that she remarried to John Epps and started a 2nd family.  John and Charlotte Epps were living in Washington, Greene, Iowa in the 1870 census.  John Epps was a widower in the 1880 census (Indianola, Warren, Iowa).

Friday, December 16, 2011

One of the Many Slips of Paper

Here is a copy of one of the many "slips of paper" I've collected over the years.  The source is the family of Francis Charles Turpin who was mentioned in the last post.  I don't know who wrote the note but it lists the birth dates of Susan Carter, one of the many John Turpins, Thomas B. Vanhorn, Mary E. Vanhorn, and Newton R. Vanhorn. 

Francis Charles "Charley" Turpin - Tenth Child

Charley and Cora’s family with Mary Ellen Turpin Estlack

Charley Turpin was the first child in Robert Newton Turpin's second family.  He was born 6 July 1874 in Iowa.  He came with his parents to Nebraska at a very young age. 

Charley's first wife was Cora Mae Miller, the only child of Margaret Ann Vert and Tom A. Miller, and granddaughter of Thomas and Rebecca Vert. The Miller family lived just above the Turpins on the Niobrara River.  Charley and Cora were married about 1895.  Their children were: Anna Eudora, Robert, Earl Elvin, Laura Edna, and Susie Adella.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Mary Ellen Leonard

Mary Ellen Leonard Turpin
Back to Newt Turpin’s family…  
Newt and Sarah had a family of nine children and we understand from family tradition that Sarah died suddenly in 1872 after being ill for only 42 hours.  At the time of her death, most of the Turpin children were grown.  Several had died and only three daughters remained at home:  Emma Zetta, Nancy, and Hannah.  Sarah is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery northwest of Rippey, Greene County, Iowa. 
The story then strays into a soggy research area….it says that Newt and Mary Ellen Leonard got married in Pottawattamie County, Iowa by Justice of the Peace Washallkey on September 16, 1873.   No records exist for that marriage or a Justice with that name.  And why would they get married in Pottawattamie County, across the Missouri River from Nebraska, instead of in Greene County?  But I don’t see a marriage record in Greene County either.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Doc Middleton and the Niobrara River Settlers

A follow-up to Susan Ingraham's information:
We know from history that for a number of years Nebraska's Niobrara River area was the home territory for many horse thieves, including the notorious D.C. "Doc" Middleton.  The terrain made the area ideal for hiding.  Vigilante committees were formed to hunt down anyone who seemed even slightly suspicious.  As a result, neighbors sometimes would suspect neighbors and any little action suddenly became the grounds for accusations.
It was said that Newt Turpin, as well as other neighbors, stayed "on friendly terms" with Middleton.  Rock and Brown County were sparsely settled and people had to depend on one another.  If someone wanted to steal your horses, they could.  If they wanted to be good to you, they could.  The law was too far away to act as a referee.  Harold Hutton’s book The Luckiest Outlaw (The Luckiest Outlaw: The Life and Legends of Doc Middleton, Harold Hutton, Lincoln: Bison Books, 1992) explains that the settlers in northern Nebraska were aware that Doc expected friendliness and frequently could be good-hearted in return.  Hutton also described how the Tienken brothers, Holt County’s German settlers, did not have the right attitude and suffered at the hands of Doc and his friends.

"A Shooting Affray"

Robert Newton Turpin
Susan Ingraham is a fellow Turpin descendent.  Newt is her great-great-great grandfather and my great grandfather.  She has sent in the following on our common ancestor:
 
My maternal great-great-great grandfather, Robert Newton Turpin, certainly came to an unfortunate end, and the local newspaper told about it.
Robert (who was usually called Newt from his middle name) was born in 1821; married twice, he was the father of 19 children. Born in Virginia, he moved quite often, living in Indiana, Iowa, and eventually Nebraska.

In 1893, when he was 72 years old, Newt was involved in a dispute with another rancher. He was shot on May 11, died on May 18, and was buried on May 20, 1893, at Willowdale Cemetery near Bassett, Nebraska. He left behind his widow, Mary Ellen, with nine children, the youngest only a baby. Newt’s children from his first marriage to Sarah Elizabeth Lowery were grown by the time of his death, ranging in age from 29 to 50. Just a few months previously, his granddaughter, Josephine Amanda Porter, had married Michael James Mahoney in Heartwell, Nebraska. Josephine Amanda Porter was my great-grandmother.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

#9 Hannah Catherine Turpin - Another Adventurer

Hannah Catherine
Turpin Bell
Hannah Catherine Turpin was the youngest child born to Sarah Elizabeth Lowery Turpin and Robert Newton Turpin.  

We are so fortunate that Hannah left her story for others to read. She chronicled her pioneering adventures for the Williston Daily Herald and it is an amazing story.  It reminds us that we need to write our own stories to share with others in the family. Of course Hannah’s example could intimidate us into wondering what anyone would find fascinating about our own lives.  But don’t you think that Hannah was a bit like us though?  She probably thought her own life was somewhat normal…until the newspaper wanted to do a story on her.

Hannah was born 25 December 1864 in Greene County, Iowa.  She arrived in Nebraska with her father and step-mother.  Her step-mother was almost the same age as she was.  Soon after coming to Nebraska, she married Douglas Bell.  I have the marriage date as Oct 12, 1880 and the marriage records should be in Holt County, Nebraska.  I found Nancy and Joe’s marriage but not this one.